


you could be the one

by lakewater



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, also tooth-rotting sugar, and pictures of small adorable animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 13:25:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14497929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lakewater/pseuds/lakewater
Summary: Dylan scoffs, more disbelieving than unkind. “These Ohio people, Z, I don’t know.”“They’re not so bad.” Actually, Ohioans are more than a little out there. They drive too slow and are altogether too fond of OSU, among other things. It’s a bit unnerving. Zach’s not about to tell Dylan he’s right, though.“I can’t believe you’re defending them like this, where’s your Michigan pride?” Dylan tuts at him, then gasps and goes, “They’ve converted you, oh my god.”(or, Zach and Dylan talk on the phone. Like, a lot.)





	you could be the one

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks go to the wonderful and amazing Lottie Anna! They beta'd this and helped find a title for it. If you haven't read their stuff I'd highly recommend it!! 
> 
> There are some characters that are mentioned, but aren't tagged. Their names are listed in the end notes. 
> 
> Quick disclaimer: the characters depicted herein are fictionalized versions of real people. please don't conflate them w/ the actual, real live ones. also, info on them in here that is actual factual can be found through google. nothing personal and real is in here that they haven't shared, and the rest is fiction, as previously stated.
> 
> Also! the title is from Let's Get Lost by Carly Rae Jepsen

Dylan’s already babbling when Zach accepts the call. “You don’t talk to me anymore. What’d I do? Like, playing you two weeks ago and hanging out after was awesome, but you still aren’t talking to me, Z.”

“Um,” Zach starts. He was hoping Dylan hadn’t caught on, actually. “It’s really not you.”

Dylan quiets, and Zach can hear the party around him unobstructed. Then he goes, “You picked up.” Dylan sounds very drunk, and also genuinely surprised, which- it’s like, 3:30 in the morning, so. Fair. “You haven’t been talking to me lately.” 

That, too, is a thing. “Uh, yeah. I- Yeah.” Zach bites at his lip, then offers, “I can hang up if you wanna yell at my voicemail.”

“No no no,” Dylan says hurriedly. “No, this is- this is good. Good, yeah. Uh. Why don’t you talk to me anymore?”

Zach’s kind of a whole lot in love with him, is why, but he can’t tell Dylan that. “It’s like, two in the morning,” he says instead. “Is someone there with you?”

“Uh, the team’s here,” Dylan says, “But, like, Z-”

“Go find them, okay?”

Dylan makes a disagreeing noise. “Did I do something? What did I do?”

“Larks.”

“Tell me,” Dylan insists.

“Go find your team and I will.”

“Okay,” Dylan says, and- maybe Zach can play it off? Or agree to talk more? What the fuck would Zach tell him, otherwise? Sorry I stopped calling: I got too invested; I love you too much, and I don’t want you to figure it out; I’m trying to stop being attached, and it’s not going as well as I’d like it to.

Dylan interrupts him before he gets too far into a monologue. “Z.”

“Yeah, uh.”

“Do you not like me anymore?” He sounds- Dylan’s not the best at holding himself together when he’s drunk. He sounds heartbroken, or at the very least unendingly sad. He sighs, and- Zach wants him to stop sounding like that. It’s harder to ignore Dylan’s- the things about Dylan he fell in love with, yeah, but his feelings, too, when Zach can hear him.

“No! Er, I-I like you plenty, it’s… it’s not that.” Zach worries his lip for a moment, then says, “You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not a you thing.”

Dylan hums, then goes, “Is there anything I can do about it?”

“Not- not really?” He could stop being the person Zach’s known for forever, maybe, but this is a Zach issue and not a Dylan issue. If anyone needs to change, its Zach.

Dylan whines. “I just. I miss you. I wanna talk more.”

He would say no — he should — but it’s Dylan. This is Dylan. He can’t really say no to Dylan, always fails when he tries to and Dylan gives him a look or says a thing. It’s kind of why he’s in this situation in the first place. “I can call more, if you like.”

“That’d be great!” Dylan says, cautiously bright. “Cause, like, I miss you, Z.”

“You’ve said.” Fuck, god, he’s tried so many things to get unhooked from Dylan. Fucking it out of his system didn’t work; his college experience is a testament to that. He can’t drink himself into oblivion, he can’t talk himself out of it. He knows Dylan too well to hope for some deal breaker-flaw. He’d have found it ages ago if there was one. He can’t pull away from Dylan, either, apparently.

Maybe he’s just supposed to suffer, be in love with Dylan while he dates and marries and has kids. Maybe Zach will love him long enough that it warps and bends and becomes something terrible. Maybe Zach’s just melodramatic. Hopefully.

“Hey, Larks,” Zach says, “Have you found your team yet?”

“Yeah, I’m with them,” Dylan responds. “Why?”

“Could I talk to one of ‘em?”

Zach gets Dylan to pass the phone off to someone more sober, and arranges for someone to let Dylan crash at their place. The phone goes back to Dylan, after, and Zach gets to talk to him until he’s in a teammate’s living room and reclining on their couch.

“We’re getting donuts,” Dylan says, probably fucking around with available pillows. “When you come back up, we’re, we’re gonna go to Krispy Kreme and, and buy, like, eight dozen - get it? - eight dozen glazed donuts and, like, eat them all. With cold milk.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Zach adds, “Can we get jelly filled, too?”

Dylan hums, mock-considering. “I guess, sure. But glazed comes first.”

“Course.” Zach’s not actually a heathen, as much as he enjoys playing the part for the look on Josh’s face. “Who do you take me for?”

Dylan laughs, the sound relaxed and full-bodied. Zach can almost see it in his head.

The line’s quiet for a good handful of minutes, then: just Dylan’s breathing, really. Zach’s about to hang up and send Dylan a text about drinking water when he wakes up, but Dylan goes “I love you, you know?” and Zach’s attentive again. “You’re my best friend,” Dylan says. “You mean the world to me.”

 _You mean the world to me, too_ , Zach doesn’t say. He doesn’t say: _I did a lot of things to hang out with you, growing up_ ; or, _I didn’t know what it meant, that I was willing to slog through summer courses so I could go to college with you_ ; or, _I don’t know who I’d be without you_. Zach doesn’t say a lot of things.

“Please don’t disappear again,” Dylan murmurs. “I hate it when we don’t talk.”

 _I really missed you_ , Zach doesn’t say. “I’ll make sure to call more, then.”

“You’d better,” Dylan says, barely intelligible.

“I will,” Zach says. He means it more than he wants to.

He listens to Dylan breathe for a handful of moments. By the time he wishes a good night to empty air, the sky is melting a little, the dark becoming brighter.

***

“Sorry I called so late, I just.” Dylan pauses. He’s probably fiddling with something, rubbing his fingers along it. The Red Wings just lost to the Hurricanes, 4-1, mathematically ending their 25 year playoff streak. The hour’s not actually all that late, but ten-thirty-ish is later than their calls usually go. “Your voice is soothing, and I need that right now, kinda.” He stops again. Then, “Is that weird? That’s weird. Sorry.”

“No, it’s- I don’t mind.” He doesn’t know what to talk about for a moment, but. Dylan said he just needs him to say things, that he wants to hear Zach’s voice. He probably won’t care if what he talks about is, like, Seth’s diatribes, just about, on country music or Sonny’s commitment to finding weird pictures of Josh and printing them out and taping them in way too many places or when Nuti got lost in Anaheim That One Time.

So he talks about that instead of anything squishy at heart. Neither of them want that, right now.

***

Dylan is on him as soon as he picks up: “Dude, your face-“

“-Is fine, really.”

“It’s broken, man. You needed a cage.” Dylan sounds frantic, but Zach’s talking to him, so _if he could calm down,_ Zach would give him a run down.

“I came back to the game.”

“And they pulled you; you didn’t play in OT.”

“It’s covered, Larks. I’ll be scratched, so you don’t have to worry about me playing through it. And before you go on, it’s not super bad.”

“Well, it looks bad, so.” Dylan sighs, hard, then says, “I’m just worried, Z.”

“I’ll be heading home, soon. You can check on it then.” 

Discontented noises come across on Dylan’s end. Then, “Can you give me a full rundown though? Like, what’s broken, how long till it heals, that stuff.” 

“Course, man.” 

***

When they lose to Pittsburgh, Dylan doesn’t talk about not being on ice for the loss, he doesn’t talk about the game at all, cause he’s great like that. He keeps it short, too: “We’re getting Krispy Kreme when you come back up.” 

They do a lot of reading between the lines, between the two of them. They’ve known each other long enough that they don’t have to state everything clearly. Coming from Dylan, Zach knows an offer to comisserate over cheap pasteries when he hears one. “Of course. With cold milk.” 

“With cold milk,” Dylan agrees. 

***

Summer is mostly an exercise in maintaining emotional distance despite an express lack of physical distance. Also an exercise in failure, because it doesn’t really work.

Zach tries to avoid hugely Zach-and-Dylan things, but there’s only so much he can do before Dylan starts to notice, and he can only pass that off as losing to the Pens in the first round for so long. He doesn’t want Dylan to force a confrontation -- he’d rather it not come to one of those, expecially not with someone who knows him well, the way Dylan does -- so he has to scale back his endeavors.

The obvious downside is that he can’t avoid his feelings for Dylan in immediate proximity. This dilemma manifests in words not working the way he’d like them to around Dylan and also flushing, despite his best attempts. Also, they go swimming in early May, and Dylan’s still post-season thin, so his abs are not undefined, exactly, and with the water - yeah, Zach’s having a hard time, a little bit. 

The feelings thing is also a good thing, sort of. Dylan is amazing as an individual, yes, but loving Dylan hasn’t warped and tangled into something malignant, as of yet. It still feels fluttery and kind of cute, and he finds himself going out of his way to do things that he knows will make Dylan smile. He makes dumb jokes, and plays video games, and makes some questionable chirps in Dylan’s proximity because it makes him giggle, and- that’s adorable. Like, it’s the cutest thing. The way Dylan’s face lights up, the way his mouth stretches to show his teeth, how flushed he gets. How he kind of curls into himself when he’s laughing, the way his shoulders shake. All of it, Zach loves it. He loves Dylan. 

That’s kind of the thing, though. Zach goes out of his way to make Dylan laugh, and it feels amazing, but watching him kiss someone at the Fourth of July party makes him feel sick. It’s why he tried to detach himself in the first place. Dylan wouldn’t ever make him feel bad on purpose, wouldn’t ever try to. Zach knows that, but watching him with other people hurts. Dylan’s amazing and wonderful and gorgeous, and there will always be other people looking at him and since Dylan doesn’t have a person, he’ll always be looking back. 

***

It’s November, and Dylan still calls regularly, which is nice, both because Dylan is great, if a source of heartache for Zach, and because he’s really easy to irk. Concerning the latter point: Zach laughs at the expression Dylan’s face makes when he shows him the ice cream. He looks more bewildered than judgey, and yeah, Zach gets that.

“Thats… That’s too much pumpkin spice, Z.” Dylan says, “No one needs that much pumpkin spice in their life.”

“No, c’mon, it’s funny.” God bless Kroger for selling pumpkin spice ice cream, of all things. Zach completely agrees with Dylan, but honestly if it’s out there he’s going to try it. “They’re just trying to live their best life, man, let ‘em.”

Dylan scoffs, more disbelieving than unkind. “These Ohio people, Z, I don’t know.”

“They’re not so bad.” Actually, Ohioans are more than a little out there. They drive too slow and are altogether too fond of OSU, among other things. It’s a bit unnerving. Zach’s not about to tell Dylan he’s right, though.

“I can’t believe you’re defending them like this, where’s your Michigan pride?” Dylan tuts at him, then gasps and goes, “They’ve converted you, oh my god.”

“What- Dylan, no, that’s ridiculous.”

“They’ve inducted you as an Ohioan!”

“Dylan, no.”

“No, Z, don’t you see?” Dylan smirks, and Zach’s having a hard time not smiling. “We need to reinitiate you as a Michigander when you come back.”

“What does that even entail?”

“Like, alcohol and one of the Great Lakes? I don’t know.” Dylan eyebrows him and goes, “You could wear the shirsey I got for you for once in your life.”

“I wear your shirsey.” Zach says. “Like, tons. Find something better.”

“You do? Wait, don’t answer that.” Dylan hums, then says, “I’ll ask the boys, we’ll figure something out.”

“Sure you will.”

“Shut up.” Dylan’s smiling though, Zach can see. He smiles back.

***

“What, so your hips are a bit jacked?”

“Mhm.”

Dylan doesn’t say anything for a moment, probably thinking, before he says, “You’re scratched, right?”

Oh, Dylan is going to hate this. “Not yet. We’re trying shots.”

“Z.” Yeah, he hates it.

Too bad, it’s Zach’s decision. “Larks.”

A tense pause follows.

“Just- if it gets worse, maybe lobby for getting scratched?”

Right, because Zach doesn’t know what he’s doing and he isn’t working with professionals. “If it gets to the point where I really feel like I should sit out, I’ll ask.”

“No, like- the shots only... like, you’re numbing-“

“-numbing the pain, but the injury’s still there, I know, I’ve been playing hockey for almost as long as you have.”

Dylan whines, then says, “I’m just worried.”

“We’re handling it.” Zach runs his tongue over his lip, then: “I’ll look into it, okay. Not, not ‘I’ll look into it’ but like, really, I’ll ask around and stuff, look into my options. I can read you in, after.”

Dylan sighs, then goes “okay” and Zach steers the conversation to something Sonny did the other day. Much safer.

***

“I- I knew it was a long shot, but.” Dylan pauses. He’s probably gnawing on his lip now.

“You still wanted it?” Zach supplies.

Dylan hums. “I wanted this year to be better, I guess.”

And, yeah, doesn’t everyone?

***

After they play each other in April, and after Dylan checks in with Zach on the _puck he took to his neck_ , they go to Zach’s apartment and curl up together on the couch. There’s a movie on, but it’s turned low. Neither of them are watching it, Zach’s pretty sure. This much touching is maybe not the best for the state of his heart, but within Dylan’s arms is a nice place to be.

It’s a nice place to be, it’s a nice moment. He doesn’t want to ruin it, or interrupt. They don’t say much, between the two of them, even when Dylan has to leave. They keep it to hugs and soft well-wishes.

When Zach wakes up, he finds that Dylan sent a good night text at one thirty in the morning. He shoots back a good morning.

***

 **puppies are so fuckin cute** , Dylan sends around 10:30. The Wings just lost to the Isles at home in OT, last game of the season. **they’re all small and shit** , Dylan texts. **I wanna cuddle with all of them**.

 **They are pretty cute** , Zach responds. He sends a picture he took of a lab he saw the other day, cause he feels it’s in order.

Dylan sends back a couple exclamation marks and a dog face emoji, then a picture of some baby newfoundlands, all piled on top of each other. Zach sends Dylan a picture of a tiny pig in a tiny teacup and gets back some otters holding hands.

After the Jackets lose to the Capitals in the first round, Dylan sends him a picture of a really fluffy herding dog. It’s a nice thing to head into the summer with.

***

It’s early on in May, and they’re in Dylan’s driveway, drinking milk and eating donuts straight out of the box. Zach’s sat crisscross, and Dylan’s giggling at him, leaning into Zach’s shoulder.

Zach wants to kiss him. It’s so much harder to ignore when Dylan’s up against his side.

Dylan must notice Zach’s being weird. Pretty quickly, he asks, “What’s up?”

“Just thinking,” Zach says, which is better than nothing, but not by much.

Dylan sets his head on Zach’s shoulder and goes, “Anything you wanna share, then?”

He licks his lips. Everything tastes sweet. “Nothing big.”

Dylan looks up at Zach and smiles. “It doesn’t have to be.”

Their faces are already so close, and it’s dark out, nearly midnight. It feels safe and secret, even though they’re in front of the world, technically. Anyone could look out their window and see them. But then Dylan leans up to meet him when Zach turns his head. They’re kissing, and Zach’s only thinking about Dylan.

They withdraw, though not far, hang on each other’s breaths. Zach’s about to ask, but Dylan pushes forward again, presses their mouths together, twists around so he can comfortably get a hand on Zach’s neck. They do that for a while — pressing against each other, tasting the sugar in their mouths — before Zach pulls away and rests his head on Dylan’s shoulder.

“This isn’t a one-time thing, right?” It can’t be, he can’t take that. He might shake apart, if it were, if Dylan only wanted him for a single night. He can’t do that.

Dylan puts his hand in Zach’s hair. “I don’t want it to be a one-time thing,” he murmurs.

Zach licks his lips and asks, quiet, “It’s not just a sex thing, either, right?” That’s another thing he can’t do. Getting the physicality without the attachment is - if he could only get one and not the other out of Dylan, he’d rather the attachment. He’d rather cuddling and anniversaries and sleepy one-in-the-morning-cause-I-waited-up-for-you good nights, and I-love-yous.

Dylan presses a kiss to Zach’s temple, and Zach just about cracks. “You’re my best friend Zach. I love you, you know? In a not-best friends way,” Dylan says, “I love you that way, too, but like, best friends and then some.”

Zach takes a shaky breath and kisses Dylan, a bit off center. He follows through though, and Dylan keeps meeting him half way. Sticky fingers cup Zach’s face, sticky lips press against Zach’s own. It’s- Dylan’s said he loves him, and he’s here and they’re kissing, and Zach doesn’t mean to cry, but Dylan ends up wiping tears away with his thumb and he makes a concerned sound.

Zach sticks his face in Dylan’s neck. “Sorry I’m a mess,” he says. He breathes for a spell, then admits, “I’ve wanted this for a long time, though. It’s really, really nice.”

Dylan presses a kiss to Zach’s head again, and says, “You don’t have to apologize.”

Zach kisses Dylan’s throat, then comes up and leaves a kiss on the corner of Dylan’s mouth, his cheek, and leans their heads together.

When they get inside, after they put the milk away, wash the cups, throw out the empty box, after they change and brush their teeth and do their nighttime things, Dylan takes Zach up to his room and pulls him into bed.

After they’ve settled, Dylan whispers, “Thanks for coming.”

Zach, with is head on Dylan’s chest, says, “Always happy to be around, Larks.” Then he adds, quieter, “Love you.”

Dylan kisses his temple again and says, “Love you, too, Z,” like Zach had said it first.

It’s way dark out and Zach doesn’t know the time. He could check, just grab his phone and look, but he’s warm and Dylan’s got him wrapped up in blankets and in his arms. Zach doesn’t want to leave.

**Author's Note:**

> characters w/o speaking parts who are mentioned by name: Josh Anderson, Sonny Milano, Markus Nutivaara, and Seth Jones. 
> 
> a bit of bonus content!! if you want anything specific, ask in the comments or hit me up on tumblr. I'm dermittens there.  
> \- here is the pic of the newfies: [lotts found it cause they're awesome](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-ab&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=ddrnWvTuNcGsjwS4noOYCg&q=newfoundland+puppies&oq=newfoundland+puppies&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l10.3608.46588.0.46758.19.14.3.2.2.0.124.1392.3j10.13.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..1.17.1328...0i67k1.0._7UkgQePjlk#imgrc=AkjTIHJYPl-cbM:%20)
> 
> \- the pumpkin spice ice cream is sort of real. it's actually pumpkin pie, but you can buy it from kroger, which is a grocery chain that is in ohio so. go kroger, thanks for the plot device.
> 
> \- i just really wanted to mention that. it's important to me. 
> 
> if i missed any tags, tell me, please. hope you enjoyed!!


End file.
